...
...
...
...
CERN
Flusser
Lord's Bridge
Lightning Field

Ryle telescope array, August 2005
[Photograph | Tim O'Riley] [click on the image to progress]

I found a patch of ground near my cameras, which had been running since the morning, and set to work. The tent was in reasonable condition but had not been used for some time, about six or seven years. Within ten minutes it was up and after a further five, I had managed to coat it with some waterproofing spray. At about nine o’clock, Ian came up from the house to say good night and he lent me a key to the lecture theatre, just in case there was a problem. I did not think too much about this at the time, but thanked him anyway. The lecture theatre was in a station building along the old railway line, just a five minute drive away from where I was camped.

It must have been around ten thirty that I was roused from my slumber. There was a peculiar feeling in the air and, peering out from the tent, I began to notice strange glimmers on the horizon. It became clear before too long that the glimmers were moving closer. All around me the sky began to light up with silent flashes of blue. As the storm gathered, I began to have second thoughts about staying out in the open countryside. The flashes became increasingly frequent and with the first spots of rain, I decided to cut my losses and head for cover. The cameras were not waterproof and so I bundled them up into the car along with a sleeping bag and made a run for it. There is a lot of wildlife on the site and I had to check the car’s speed in order to avoid the countless rabbits which froze in my headlights on the road back to the old station buildings. Somehow I managed to avoid them, and I arrived and unloaded my stuff just before it turned really nasty. I unrolled my sleeping bag on the lecture theatre floor, turned off the light and tried to settle down to sleep.